Dragline bucket



Nov. 7, 1933. T. A. RATKowsKl A1,933,759

DDDDDDDDDDDD ET T, A. RATKOWSKI DRAGLINE BUCKET Nov. 7, 1933.

Filed March l2. 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 T. A. RATKOWSKI DRAGLINE BUCKET Nov. 7, 1933.

Filed March 12, 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet, 3

IMIIMLL. Y

lllllill WNI Patented Nov. 7, 1933 UNITED STATES DRAGL'INE BUCKET Thomas A. Ratkowski, Chicago Heights, Ill., as-

signor to American Manganese Steel Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Maine Application Marchiz, 1932. serial No. 598,329

3 Claims.

This invention relates to excavating implements of the kind in which the digging and conveying element, usually termed the bucket, consists essentially of side Walls, a bottom wall and a rear end wall, and has its top and its forward end open; and the operation of which involves maneuvering the bucket by casting it from the end of a boom to the point at which it gathers its load, then hauling it inward through means of a dragline, until the desired quantity of material has accumulated within it, and nally lifting the bucket bodily and conveying it to a point where it is dumped,

In implements of this kind, it is very important to provide means to interconnect the forward ends of the side walls and render them mutually sustaining and at the same time serve for attachment of a cable through which the bucket is cast away by the boom; which cable also controls the tipping of the loaded bucket during its bodily transport to the dumping point. This interconnecting means, for the sake of avoiding obstructing the loading operation, has usually been in the form of an arched yoke, united integrally or through means of rivets with the forward ends of the side walls, at or near their upper margins. It is also customary to provide upon buckets of this type of excavating implement, at points on their side Walls suitably related to the center of load, hoist brackets to which may be attached the cable employed for raising and sustaining the loaded bucket while it is being transported to the dumping point and it. is important that these brackets bear a special relationship to the center of gravity of the loaded bucket. But the method of maneuvering buckets in implements o this kind subjects their external surfaces, and particularly the equipment mounted thereon, to extreme forces of deterioration so that as a matter of economy it is important that attachments employed, including the arched yoke and the lifting brackets, be replaceable as necessity may require. Moreover, in case of the arched yoke, it is particularly desirable, for manufacturing considerations, to have it made separately from the walls of the bucket and readily attachable thereto in a relation that enables it to transmit the stresses incident to use; while in the case of the lifting bracket, it is desirable to adapt the same bracket for application to buckets of different capacity, in which shear lugs that help to sustain the brackets when in position, are of dierent dimensions and diierently spaced from the center of gravity of the loaded bucket, with which axes of the lifting brackets should approximately coincide.

One feature of the present invention consists in forming, separately from the bucket, a yoke for interconnecting itslsides, which in the form of an arch of box girder construction.

Another feature consists in uniting the ends .of this yoke with the side walls of the bucket,

through means .of pins, bolts or the like passing through intermeshing perforated lugs or knuckles formed on the yoke ends and on the side walls; these series of knuckles at each connection extending longitudinally of the side walls or transversely to the plane of the arch and being sufcient in number to hold the yoke rigidly against fore-and-aft tipping upon the bucket, notwithstanding the very considerable vertical oil'set between the bucket and the crest of the arch Where the attaching eye for the casting and anti-tipping cable is located; the rigidity of the yoke, notwithstanding the hingelike principle of its connections with the side Walls, causing these side Walls to be mutually sustaining against lateral weaving forces or forces of lateral deflection when the bucket is in use; and this rigidity against lateral movement being preferably enhanced by bringing the articulated ends of the yoke into lateral face impingement against the outer surfaces of 35 the side walls.

In the accompanying drawings, in which the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown by way of illustration- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a dragline 90 bucket in which both features of the invention are embodied;

Figure 2 is a front view of the same with portions lying on the left of the vertical medial plane, in elevation, and those portions on the other` side of said plane in vertical section; and,

Figure 3 is a top view of the bucket with one halfin plan and with the other half in horizontal section.

1 represents the side walls, 2 the bottom Wall, and 3 the end wall of a draglne bucket, the body of which generally may be constructed in accordance'with approved design, with respect to its digging elements 4, forward side wall extensions 5, draft clevises 6, stiiening flanges 7, etc. A

According to the present invention, the bucket is provided with an archedyoke 8 which is preferably*t of box girder construction, composed of compression member 8a, tension member 8b, strutting webs 8c and stiifening side walls 8d, and with such of said members as may be desirable, for instance, tension member 8b, struts 8c and stiifening walls 8d, skeletonized for the sake of economy in weight and metal. Yoke 8 is produced separately from the body of the bucket and is united to the side walls thereof, preferably at the upper margins of their forward ends, through means of knuckle joints indicated generally at 9, each such joint consisting of lugs or knuckles 9a integral with the yoke, intermeshing with lugs or knuckles 9b integral with the side walls of the bucket and a drive pin 10 passing through all the knuckles of the joint.

In addition to meeting the side through the knuckles and the pin, each end of the yoke is preferably constructed with its inner face in relatively flat lateral bearing against the outer face of the side Wall, as shown at 9c in Figure 2; and each side Wall knuckle 9b is preferably constructed with a bracing web 9d.

Notwithstanding each of the articulations developed through means of the overlapping knuckles and pins bears superficial resemblance to the elements of a hinge, there is no hinging action at either end of the yoke for the reason that each end is fixed against radius action about the articulation at the other end. Even such slight hinging action as might be incident to yielding of the sides of the bucket within their elastic limit, will be largely eliminated when the bearing faces 9c are used. Thus, each side of the bucket is stayed by a rigid connection with the opposite side so that a stress applied to either Will be distributed by the yoke between the two sides; and when the bucket is being lifted through means of the yoke, which occurs when the bucket is being cast by the swinging of the boom through which it is maneuvered, the construction of the yoke affords such stiffness as to avoid springing the sides.

In order to attach that one of the maneuvering connections which acts vertically upon the forward end of the bucket, arch 8 is provided at its crest with attaching eyes 11, preferably related to a corner of the box girder and braced by the webs 11a.

The construction thus far described, While not limited to production by foundry methods, lends itself with peculiar advantage to'molding, and therefore to embodiment in metal such as manganese steel, which has high resistance to abrasion.

12 represents one of the two hoisting brackets. located one on each side of the bucket, which, according to established practice, are not only riveted to the side walls of the bucket but sustained against shear strain upon the rivets by shear-lugs 13, 14. The lugs 13, 14 have usually been located in a manner to position the bracket 12, with its trunnion axes 12b near the center of gravity of the bucket when loaded, but this involves constructing a special bracket which, when its axis is' in the desired position, impinges the edges of the attaching plate against the shear-lugs. In other words, it required a special bracket for each size of bucket. The present invention' provides for the use of one size of bracket for a plurality of .different sized buckets by the insertion of filler plates 15a and 15b, respectively, adapted to fill the spaces between the bracket and the lugs 13, 14 so that it is merely necessary to select the filler plates appropriately to the desired position of the bracket in order to adapt a standard sized brackets for use on different sized buckets.

What is claimed is:

1. In an excavating bucket having spaced walls, a yoke interconnecting said walls, the

connection between an end of the yoke and the wall consisting of intermeshing lugs carried, respectively, by said end and said wall, and pin means extending through the intermeshing lugs; the side wall and the end of the yoke also having faces through which they impinge one against the other in a direction transverse to said pin means.

2. In an excavating bucket, having spaced walls, a yoke interconnecting said Walls; said yoke being separately formed and having its ends articulated with said Walls, each articulation consisting of intermeshing lugs carried, respectively, by the wall and the meeting yokeend, and pin means extending through the lugs at each articulation; the ends of the yoke being also constructed with faces which impinge laterally against faces of the adjacent walls.

3. In an excavating bucket, having spaced walls, a yoke interconnecting said walls; said yoke being separately formed and having its ends articulated with said walls, each articulation consisting of intermeshing lugs carried, respectively, by the Wall and the meeting yokeend, and pin means extending through the lugs at each articulation; the lugs on the ends of the yoke being constructed with faces through which they bear against adjacent faces of the side walls.

THOMAS A. RATKOWSKI. 

